Isaiah 40:31
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
“Just a minute!” a dad replies, scrolling through his YouTube feed while one of his kids pleads for some attention. How often does that sixty second request turn into more, leaving a child confused as to the actual span of a minute. It’s so easy to ask for a minute and mean ten or thirty. But what happens when the tables are turned?
“Go back to Jerusalem,” he said, “and wait there until you receive the promise of the Father…You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4,5)
What does “not many days from now” mean? Could it be three? Let’s wait three days…but three days later nothing had happened: no power, no fire, no baptism. So, the waiting stretched on and on, all the way to the day we call Pentecost…wait…FIFTY? That’s a lot of wait! Unlike a parent wanting a few more minutes with their favorite videos, God’s waiting is measured and designed for our good and crafted by him for our benefit, our growth, our good.
I don’t want to wait. I’m not alone. The desire for whatever I want now, has created the fast-food industry and microwaves and instant potatoes. We want what we want, and we want it even faster. How many times have you walked to the check-out line and looked for the longest line so you could wait a little longer? Yeah, me neither.
Much of the God-work in my life circles around waiting. God never works on a human’s time frame. His work seems bone-crushingly slow. So much of the time it seems like the clock of God has stopped and we find ourselves wanting to check the batteries in God’s timing because surely, he’s not doing anything.
Waiting is antithetical to the human psyche, but wait, there’s something supernatural that occurs when we take to the quiet discipline of waiting. God meets the waiting one with energy that is beyond human capacity. It’s in this place of open-ended stillness and patience that the power of God can be revealed. Yes, the word, “wait” is an action verb that feels very un-action-y and yet through it the strength of the Almighty is revealed to human form. Do you want supernatural energy? Then, enter the discipline of the supernatural by adopting the art of waiting and discover God providing for you in ways that surpass your imagination.
Pastor Wes